Fangs And Fur
by RedNyx
Summary: Aksel is just your average, run-of-the-mill vampire-slaying werewolf. When Rookery hires her to destroy a certain family, will she be able to go through with it, or will she find something far too intriguing about the eldest son? GregoryxOC, rating may change
1. Chapter 1

_A/N _ **Welcome to _Fangs and Fur!_ This is my first story in a while, so feel free to review with constructive criticism! I've wanted to jump into this fandom for a while, ever since I watched the movie again and was reminded of how much I love Gregory xD But I was getting kind of tired of the story always seeming to be about a human girl who's related to Tony and follows him throughout the whole adventure. So, here's my spin on the classic love story! **

**Note: Yes, Aksel is a masculine name. No, I don't care that I gave it to a girl.  
**

Getting used to Scotland was going to take a while, but it wouldn't be too bad. No, the new country wasn't going to be difficult or hard to stand. The _people _were going to be the problem.

I don't think we ever had to deal with someone _quite _like Rookery before. In all of our travels, my mother had never chosen a human like him to associate with He smelled of sweat and chicken and garlic and lived in his very own VampKill truck. Wonderful. Classy. What other great adjectives could I possibly use to describe it? Usually, we worked for someone rich and occasionally eccentric. Rookery was eccentric, but not rich.

Cracking my eyes open, I saw that it was still evening. Damn jet lag had me all messed up. I sat and pulled leaves from my hair. I didn't object to sleeping on the ground beside Rookery's truck, so long as he didn't run me over. I've had to deal with worse.

Looking around, I saw that mom was already up. I could hear her speaking with Rookery and just listened for a moment.

"This _contract_ of yours," mother said. "How long does it last?"

We had signed the contracts last night. Neither of us could read—mom's parents never taught her, so she never taught me—and we still had no idea what we agreed to. Not the best deal, I know, but we always manage to get through alive.

"Till all the damned vampires are dead," Rookery spat. "And you can start with the family in the cemetery. They've been around there past few nights. Send the puppy in."

"Aksel!" mom barked.

I stood and walked around to the back of the truck where the doors were open and the two sat, forcing sleep from my legs. Mother was tiny next to our employer; her petite frame made her look like a child beside him.

"There you are, dear." She said as I came into view. "Sleep well?"

I nodded, trying not to look unhappy. A job was a job and money was money, and this job paid well. Vampire killers were hard to find these days, it seemed. We were in high demand.

"Go on and patrol the cemetery, girl." Rookery said roughly. "Find anything, you kill it. Understood?"

I nodded again.

"Off with you then." He waved me away and I bowed my head before turning and running into the woods.

This job sucked. Majorly. I hardly even knew my employer and already I hated him. Rookery was big, smelly, sweaty, lived in his car—and somehow he could still afford all of his insane weapons. You don't need a stake gun to kill the undead; just teeth and a set of claws.

Rolling my eyes, I slowed to a walk and stopped next to a fallen tree. I stripped out of my clothes and stashed them under the log, being careful to tuck them out of the way so I wouldn't come back to find them missing. Because that would suck. Even more than this job.

Crouching, I let go of all my pent-up anger and what little energy I had left and felt my bones crunching around and rearranging. My growing toes clutched the cold soil as I felt the familiar itching of fur growing out of my skin and my face grew out into a snout. The last thing to change was my elongating tailbone that sprouted out and was soon covered in long fur.

It all only took about thirty seconds. After that, I was free to run—lope awkwardly, rather—off into the darkness and towards the graveyard. When I got there and slowed down, I was immediately greeted with the not-so-sweet smell of vampire.

And there was something else, another smell I picked up while my nose was plastered to the ground…human. Small human. Small human boy. What was a little human doing out in the cemetery at this hour? Visiting with the bloodsuckers? Now, that just wouldn't be right at all.

I followed the scent through the graves in a frenzy, ignoring everything else. I just concentrated on getting to that small human. It would be far too difficult to comb through the entire graveyard trying to pinpoint the exact location of the vampires, as their scent was so strong. But if I followed the human's smell, then I would at least find _him, _if not any vampires. It would be better than nothing.

As I scrambled over an old tombstone and stopped to catch my breath, I heard voices from up ahead. I didn't bother trying to make out what they said. I didn't feel the need to. The harsh male voice resonated with all my memories of the way vampires spoke.

I had found them.

I crept toward the voices, careful to be stealthy now. If I could hear them, they could probably hear me, and the last thing I wanted was a bunch of vampires coming down on me. I had already gone through that last month in Germany, and I wasn't planning on repeating the experience.

Crouching behind a large headstone, I surveyed the scene in front of me. There were two adult vampires, a male and a female, as well as three children, the oldest looking to be about my age—but of course, I knew better-and the small human. The vampire daughter was closest to me, and as she seemed to be the youngest, I figured she would probably be the best one to pick off first.

But how was I supposed to do it? She was too close to the others for me to just drag her away and slice her open like a little bloodsucking tomato. If I just jumped in right in and started gnashing my teeth, I probably wouldn't get out alive.

I accidently shifted my weight to my back foot and a twig I wasn't aware I was standing on snapped. The girl turned to look at me, but she was the only one that seemed to notice the noise. The others were all too caught up in whatever it was they were fighting about.

She took a few steps toward me, obviously unaware of what I was. She came forward curiously but with caution, as any young vampire would, and her family ignored her. Perfect. All I needed was for her to take a few more steps and—

"Anna!" her mother yelled. "Come away from there!"

Dammit.

She started to turn back. "Mother, I was just-"

No time to lose. I jumped on her and she screamed as my paws knocked her to the ground. Saliva was flying from my mouth as my teeth reached for her throat to no avail. She rolled away somehow and scrambled to her feet, running to the others before I could even think. So it looked like I really _was _going to have to face the entire family on my own.

"Anna!" the younger son yelled as she reached them.

The father forced them all behind him, even the human, and soon he was facing me with his cape spread out, making him look like a huge bat. "Do your worst, beast!"

I crept toward them on all fours awkwardly, wishing that I was shaped more like an actual wolf than this odd hybrid form. Snarling, I stopped, sizing them up. Five against one, not counting the human. I could use him to pick my teeth out afterwards.

"W-what is that thing?" the human asked.

"A werewolf," the mother said fearfully.

"I thought they were all dead," the older son said. There was something oddly attractive about him. Maybe it was the way that he stood slightly apart from the others, or maybe it was his hair—spiky on top, and sort of mullet-like—but for whatever reason it was, I didn't want to kill him.

"Obviously not, dude," the human said.

"Quiet, all of you!" the father ordered, still staring at me.

I growled and lunged at him, throwing him to the ground. His hands went around my throat and he began choking me while I thrashed and tried to free myself from his iron grip. I could feel my strength draining and I had to give up fighting as my vision started to blur.

He tossed me to the side and I hit a grave that cracked in half, the top part falling on me. It felt a bit like it chipped my shoulder, and I know I was bleeding because I could smell the sweet liquid as it oozed out into my fur. I looked up to find the vampire standing over me, a look of pure hatred on his face.

"How dare you come here and attack my family," he hissed. "Where is your master?!"

The mother came and put a hand on his shoulder. "Frederick, darling, it probably can't understand you, let alone speak. It's only a beast, after all."

He nodded after a long while of glaring at me. "Yes. You're right."

There was a moment of silence broken only by his hard breathing and my panting. I could have gotten up if I wanted, but why push my luck? They didn't seem to be in the mood to kill me in cold blood. Too bad the feeling wasn't mutual. If I stayed there long enough, maybe they would lower their defenses and let me go or start ignoring me or something.

"Wh-what are you gonna do with it?" the human whimpered.

"Father, you can't kill it!" Anna insisted as her father seemed to consider the idea.

"I never said I would," he snapped.

"If we don't kill it, what will become of us?" the eldest son interrupted. "Don't you want to go down in history as the werewolf slayer?"

"Gregory!" Anna gasped. "How could you-"

"Quiet, both of you!" their father ordered. He took a step toward me and looked at me.

I met his eyes with a look that I hoped conveyed intelligence and fear. The second he turned his back, he would be mine.

He considered his options for a while. I was growing tired of it when he finally turned back toward his family, his guard lowered. He motioned for the others to follow him and as they all began to turn, I rose to my feet silently and followed. I had a clear shot at him. If I took down the leader, the rest would be simple. That's how vampires worked. Get rid of the king, and the subjects lost their organization and were easy pickings.

I was getting ready to jump at him when the one named Gregory, the one I _didn't_ want to kill, turned and hissed at me. Before the others could do anything, he had gotten both hands around my snout and was holding it shut, trying to throw me to the side. I struggled to part my jaws and stood on my hind legs as I did so, lifting him up with me. I swung my head from side to side, trying to get rid of him, but he only kicked me in the ribs.

He dug his nails into the thin flesh of my muzzle and sharp pain erupted across my snout. I dropped to all fours again and threw myself to the right violently. He finally let go and skidded away a few feet. I snarled and advanced toward him, but was stopped by someone grabbing the scruff of my neck twisting my head up dangerously fast. It was the father, back to finish what he had abandoned.

I wiggled out of his grip and ran away a few feet, panting. I threw my head back and howled for my mother and Rookery. As much as I hated it, I needed help. Badly.

Gregory and his father attacked me simultaneously, clawing and biting at me, beating me down until I was on my belly. I gritted my teeth. All I had to do was hold on until they came. Just a few minutes and I would be safe.

I heard snarling several yards away and recognized mom's growl. I looked up as the vampire father was lifted away from me to see her gray form silhouetted against the moon up above, a deadly look on her furry face. Gregory was backing away to the other vampires as quickly as he could, and I pushed myself back to my feet.

Bright light filled the cemetery and mom dropped the vampire to let him burn before grabbing my neck in her teeth and half-dragging me over to where Rookery stood in front of his truck, the headlights illuminating everything. He was holding the stake-shooting gun and was about to shoot the vampire father when Mr. Dracula made the others hide.

"Go! Do as I say!" he yelled. He spread his cape and faced Rookery. "Do your worst!"

Rookery pulled the trigger, but the power went out and there stood the human with the power cord. Why did the gun even _have_ a power cord? That was just ridiculous. I mean, really.

"The age of chivalry is not yet dead!" Anna exclaimed from their hiding place.

Rookery grimaced and pulled out a glowing cross. I just sat there and watched as he threatened the human with it. Idiot. Could he not tell that he was just wasting his time and making a fool out of himself? Last I checked, humans aren't afraid of glowing crosses. I could be wrong, but I seriously doubt it was going to do him any good.

The little human fled and Rookery followed him up a small hill. Suddenly, the human disappeared down a hole and Rookery shot flares down after him, peering in. He turned back to mom and me.

"You," he came toward me and seized the scruff of my neck. "You're going down there."

I struggled against him and dragged my feet in the grass in protest. I was too weak. I really didn't want to go down there and face the vampires again.

Mom whined while he pushed me down the shaft. I hit the ground with a sickening crunch. I got up for the millionth time and looked around to see that I was in some sort of crypt. I could hear the vampires, but their voices were muffled and I couldn't make out what they said. Following the sound, I finally found them.

"He has a sympathy for our kind," the mother said.

"Lovely," Anna sighed.

"Young Von found the stone. Then he made his way to Scotland, plucked from the sea by a merchant ship, just as rumor had it." The father's voice was growing louder as I neared them.

"Then he could still be roaming free,"

"There was a woman I've never seen before. She wore a strange coat of arms. We must find what family she belongs to, trace her crest."

"I can help," the human offered.

"No. It's too risky to involve a mortal."

"What have we got to lose? We've been searching for three centuries-" the younger son said.

"This is what comes from contact with mortals! Disrespect! Insolence!"

"Frederick, he does have a point," the mother said in her dreamy voice.

Frederick thought for a moment. "All right. Help if you can. But do not think to change your mind and betray us to our most hateful enemy, or my wrath will be revealed. Am I clear?" he had the human backed up against stone steps.

The human nodded vigorously. Everything seemed to be fine and dandy until they noticed me crouching there, covered in dirt, blood, and cobwebs, probably looking as miserable as I felt. I hadn't even been awake for an hour and already everything was turning out to be shit. I wasn't in fighting condition at this point—the fall seemed to have broken a few ribs and bruised a few more. Damn that Rookery man.

I growled desperately as they closed in on me. If this was going to be my death, at least no one would find me in this state. I would be a floppy bag of bones by the time the vampires were done with me.

"I don't think it's going to hurt us," the younger son said.

"Rudolph, we don't know for sure. It could be a trap-" Frederick began.

"It's not a trap, dear. At least, not an immediate one. Besides, what can you do? Werewolf blood is poisonous to all but a rare few. I'm surprised you haven't already been weakened." The mother took a handkerchief out and began cleaning the blood—my blood—off her husband's hands.

"What will you have me do, then? Freda, it can't stay here-"

"Darling, of course it can. If you're that concerned, there are shackles in the western tunnel. It can stay there until its intentions are made clear."

"It is a beast. It has no intentions."

"Of course it does. Gregory, Rudolph, be dears and put the poor beast in shackles for the remainder of the night."

The brothers looked at each other and came toward me. I tried half-heartedly to escape as Rudolph seized my legs and Gregory supported my upper half. I gave up growling and went willingly with them, unable to do anything else. They took me through a few narrow tunnels before finally coming to a stop at a dead end. On the clammy wall sat a pair of shackles, a rusty key set in one. Gregory grabbed it and put it in his pocket before they set me down and got to work dusting the chains off.

"Sorry about this," Rudolph whispered as they put the cold metal around my wrists.

"Don't talk to it," Gregory snarled. "It's not like it can understand you anyway."

I grunted and he glared at me. His brother almost smiled.

"See Gregory?" he asked.

"Oh, shut up."

**A/N: So, how was it? Am I off to a good start? Review and let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaaaand here we go! Chapter two! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed, I really appreciate it X3 **

I could just barely reach the cold floor with the tips of my toes. I was still far too weak to go anywhere, and even if I could, I was being held hostage by a family of vampires that had already almost killed me. I had the feeling that the second time around, Frederick wouldn't listen to his wife and my head would be leaving my body.

I had nothing to do but sleep while I hung there in my shackles. So I did. I figured that since I couldn't go anywhere, I could at least try to get some strength back. It must have been the next afternoon when I heard footsteps echoing through the corridor. I was dozing on and off, bored with sleeping. I was hungry, my limbs hurt, and my throat was parched. The shackles were already chaffing and things were overall miserable.

I closed my eyes, not caring to see who it was that was paying me a visit. The vampires were going to kill me eventually anyway. It wouldn't matter if they did it now or in fifty years. I still didn't want to have to look at any of them.

"What, afraid?" I opened one eye a bit and saw that it was Gregory. "I should kill you right now if you're a coward."

I snorted at him. He talked big for a vampire. I weighed a couple hundred pounds more than he did, and here he was poking fun at me.

"Don't believe me?"

I raised my lips in a grin.

"Fine. Why would I kill you anyway? No point in it. You're worth more alive than dead. I've heard that live werewolves go for thousands on the black market. Broken ones are worth even more. We're not going to keep you around forever, and even Father is going to get annoyed with a fleabag skulking around eventually. Your days here are numbered, dog."

No shit, Sherlock.

My profound silence shut him up for a minute. We stared each other down and I won when he finally broke eye contact. I wanted him to know that I didn't care about all of his fancy-talk and black market dealings. I didn't want to hear about his leech family or how I was a coward. I was going to die soon, and if my last moments would be at the hand of a vampire, so be it. He began the staring contest again with renewed fervor. After several minutes, I growled and looked away at last.

He sneered. "Good to know you're already recognizing your new masters, you filthy canine."

I snorted again.

"If I didn't know better, I'd almost think you could understand me. That's obviously not true though, given your _disgusting _appearance."

I snarled at him. What a jerk! Was he _always _like this? I was already forgetting about not wanting to kill him. The second I got out of these shackles, I was going straight for his throat.

"Gregory! Mother wanted to see you!" Anna called, bouncing in. Seeing me, she stopped. "Oh."

Gregory looked at me one last time before growling and stalking away, leaving Anna alone with me. She began quivering and made a little whimpering noise, but she didn't go anywhere. She didn't say anything for a long time either, and we both just looked at each other before I sighed and hung my head again.

"Don't pay any attention to him," she said quietly. "He's not always like that."

I smiled in a way that showed my teeth and she took a step back. Closing my mouth again, I tried to imagine how deranged I looked. Covered in blood, dust, and cobwebs, hanging from rusty shackles in a crypt—it probably wasn't a very flattering image.

She sat down on the floor and tucked her feet under her in a very lady-like manner. "It must be horrible, being all chained up like this."

I just stared at her.

"Why did you attack us?" she waited for a few seconds and then realized that I couldn't reply. "Can you change back to your human form so that we might talk?"

She was very poetic, wasn't she? And how was I supposed to convey to her that I needed light to change back to a human? It was just too dark here. I could change into my wolf form during daylight, but not back unless it was still bright out.

Yeah. It kind of sucks.

I shook my head weakly.

"Oh," she said quietly. "I see. Then…might we talk, you and I? Or perhaps I can talk, and you can listen?"

I studied her pale little face for a moment before slowly nodding.

She smiled. "Thank you. It's been so long since I've been able to speak with a stranger."

Did she really want to talk to me? I had attacked her not too long ago. She should be avoiding me above all else.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" she asked.

I laughed. My fur was so shaggy from my time in the Alps that she couldn't tell.

"You fight like a boy," she said defensively. "But you mope like a girl."

I smiled again and she looked uncomfortable.

"Well? What are you? A boy?"

I scowled and shook my head.

"I knew it," she said happily. "Rudolph tried to tell me you were a boy, but I knew otherwise."

Wasn't she at all scared of me? The second I was out of these chains and my numerous injuries were healed, I was busting out of this crypt and crawling back to my smelly employer who would undoubtedly send me back into the graveyard to have another go at killing some vampires.

"You're probably wondering why I'm not afraid of you," Anna continued. "Well, I am, a bit. But you're a lady, and I imagine that if you weren't covered in fur, you would be a proper one."

I snorted. Me? A lady? I might be a girl, but I was hardly a lady. In fact, I had never worn a dress or even anything that could be considered business-casual. I had, however, once worn a ceremonial headdress given to me by an old baron after Mom and I had rid his estate of vampires.

"Anna, come on! Back to bed with you!" Freda called.

"Coming, mother!" she yelled back. To me, she smiled a little and curtsied after standing. "I do hope to speak with you more in the future."

I watched her go and then pondered why she even cared to talk about me when she was supposed to be asleep. It was daylight; I had never heard of a vampire being awake in the day. They usually kept a very strict schedule when it came to that sort of thing. Probably some stupid old vampire tradition they insisted on sticking to.

While they slept, I stayed awake, sniffing the shackles that kept me contained. They were ancient, and now that I was conscious and thinking straight, I saw that I could probably destroy them with only a few tugs of my arms. But the vampires would hear me, and then I would really be done for. The leader wouldn't keep me around if I showed any signs of aggression other than those that I had already displayed. They would probably either kill me or decide that this wasn't a safe location and would leave, and then I would be looking at days of tracking before I could finally take care of them.

It was a few hours later, probably after nightfall, when I heard sounds that forced me out of dozing on and off. It was a man's voice, one that I didn't recognize, coming from somewhere aboveground.

"It's my graveyard. It's my job. I'll do it." he cleared his throat.

"Well…if you insist," Rookery said. "Take this safety line.

"Not that I'll need it!"

I thought for a second before realization dawned on me. Rookery was sending a _human _down here? He already had me in this stupid crypt! Why would he…unless, of course, he thought I was dead. I suppose it seemed logical; no word, not a peep, from me for a whole day and a half. Therefore, assume I was dead and start sending normal people into a vampire-infested hideout.

I heard footsteps of the caretaker and strained against my restraints. He was going to get killed, and I was going to get blamed when Rookery found out I was still alive. Growling, I held my feet against the wall to steady myself and pulled my torso forward with as much strength as I could muster. The shackles gave and I fell to the floor in a cloud of dust.

Shaking bits of debris from my face, I sniffed the air and followed the poor man's scent as silently as I could. I heard him scream and shout and broke into a clumsy run, sprinting around corners and through tunnels until I rounded a corner and spotted that idiot Gregory clinging to the Scotsman's legs as he was pulled up to the surface by the safety line.

"Let go, Gregory! It's a trap!" Rudolph yelled, grabbing his brother.

I roared and stood on my hind legs to swat at Gregory, but Rudolph had already pulled him down and the human was already up out of the crypt, dead as could be. Rookery leaned over the hole and saw me down there, whining as I tried to reach up and attempt to climb out of this hell.

"You're still alive, eh?" he asked, still jolly from the death of the caretaker.

I barked, turning around as Gregory stood and hissed at me.

"Don't just stand there, pup! You're bred to fight, you bloody idiot!" Rookery shouted down at me. And with that kind remark, he set about making his leave.

Gregory approached me with a furious expression. "You—_bloody dog!"_

I stood over him and roared in his face, spittle flying all over as he refused to do anything other than bare his fangs and stand his ground. We stayed like that for several minutes before his parents and Anna appeared.

"Gregory, what do you think you're doing?!" Frederick asked angrily.

I sat back, smug, as they reprimanded him. Anna approached me cautiously and I growled for a moment before falling silent as I thought. Rookery didn't care about me. He might care about my mother, but not about me. I was expendable. He wasn't really my master; he just had a useless little piece of paper that said he was. A paper that I couldn't read. So why should I please him by doing away with this family? I had passed dozens of vampires on the streets at night and not done a single thing, simply because they weren't on my list to kill.

I felt a hand on my head and realized that it was Anna stroking my fur. I looked at her and pondered. If anything, I could let her live simply to spite Rookery. He thought that I was his fighting dog, but not the best one. I was the one he sent to go and scope things out. Mom was his prize. She was probably more than willing to go and find someone and have more puppies if I died.

They didn't actually care about me. But this little vampire girl…she did.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Here's another chapter! I know that it's kind of short, and I'm sorry, but the next one will be longer XD If you guys have any suggestions or requests, go ahead and leave 'em in a review or a PM! I love getting your feedback on this. **

**But enough jabbering! On with the show!**

"You _bit_ him?!" Frederick asked angrily.

"Just a taste," Gregory answered nonchalantly.

"Was it worth betraying your family?"

Gregory turned to his father. "Well, you're the traitor. For ever denying the truth of us. We are dark gods! _You've _turned us into cowards. Skulking round our holes like worms!"

"What would you have us do?" Frederick asked.

"Fight back! Make these mortals' blood run cold!"

"And you could do it, Gregory. You're young, strong, ruthless, and willing to risk a stake through the heart to prove it."

"Better a stake than this prison,"

My ears pricked up as I heard footsteps above us. Anna noticed and whispered to me, "What? What is it?"

"You think me oblivious?" Frederick asked, unaware of whatever was going on in the cemetery above.

"What does it matter to you what I think? If I think?"

I heard a chain being lowered and rose to my feet. It was something of Rookery's, no doubt. I barked. They ignored me and continued talking. I barked again, louder. Still, they ignored me.

"You are Frederick the Great!" Gregory said in the background. "You feel _nothing!"_

I finally howled at them, just as a bright light flooded the cavern. They screamed and hissed as they burned, chaotically managing to gather behind Frederick as he shielded them from it. The fool! He was just as vulnerable, and yet he was risking himself for them?

And at that moment, I did something so incredibly stupid that I think I'll always wonder why it even occurred to me in the first place. Standing on my back legs, I was easily taller than Frederick, and my torso was twice as wide as he. As he shouted and burned, I stood in front of him, my back to the light.

He stared up at me in confusion. I barked and wagged my tail.

Behind me, I heard the little human from the previous night. He picked up a rock and threw it, busting the light.

Just like that, he got all the credit.

"My hero!" Anna exclaimed.

I growled and sat back down. I didn't even get any recognition. It wasn't of any use to me to listen as he talked about the McAshton coat of arms, whatever that was. The next thing I knew, I was being dragged along on a leash by Rudolph and the little human, whose name I learned was Tony, through the countryside to a dairy farm. I then sat outside the barn as they fed, and was reminded why I hated vampires so much. There were so many conflicted feelings running around in my head.

"I must find a place to hide you children," Frederick said as they finished.

"You can stay at my house," Tony offered.

"We need darkness, dampness, and decay," he continued.

"Then you need my cellar!"

What the hell was with this kid? Was he crazy? Inviting a family of lethal, blood-sucking undead was on the top of the list of things not to do while in Scotland.

"The werewolf can come too," he said.

I groaned and rolled my eyes. I really didn't want to join them in a basement.

"I _told _you, _her _name is Maud, Empress of-"

"Anna, don't name it." Gregory said, eyes narrowed behind his muzzle. "You'll only get attached to it."

"You're _not _going to sell her!" Anna protested, hugging me. I sniffed her hair and she giggled.

"Anna, it—she—tried to do away with you," Freda said gently.

"But look at her, mother! She's good!"

Freda sighed. "Anna, sometimes we must do things-"

"The mongrel saved my life," Frederick spoke up.

My social status seemed to be frequently changing, as I went from Empress Maud to mongrel in less than thirty seconds. At least someone was arguing for me.

"So much for Frederick the Great," Gregory muttered.

I stood up and snarled at him. The less he insulted his father, the greater my chances of survival.

"No, Maud!" Anna said, grabbing my collar. "Down!"

I wished I could tell her my real name. Maud wasn't really that bad, but it was far from the manly Aksel.

"I thought at first that it worked for Rookery, but its recent act of valor has seemed to prove otherwise," Frederick said.

"Then it wasn't bound to him," Freda put a hand on her husband's shoulder. "But come. We must reach Tony's cellar before daybreak."

Anna, Tony, and Rudolph took turns riding on my back as we made our way across the fields. They stopped and I was allowed to go out ahead on my own for a while, a strange gesture of gratitude from Frederick. The run gave me a nice chance to stretch my legs after being stuck chained to a wall for so long, and I was actually beginning to enjoy things until we reached Tony's home and everyone walked right through the front door and down into the cellar.

As they all found places to sleep for the day, I sniffed around, trying to find myself a comfortable spot. Everything was too small, too musty, or too…decayed. After surveying the room several times, I finally opted for simply chilling on the floor.

"Get away from me, dog." Gregory's voice sounded from inside the box next to me.

I growled in response and stayed where I was, kicking his hiding place as I turned to put my back to it.

He sat up and glared at me. "Must you act like this?"

I wrinkled my nose in response and then buried my face in my tail.

"Fine." He sneered and went back to bed.

A few minutes later, Anna came and knelt before me. "Good night, Maud," she crooned, scratching my ears. I hate to admit it, but she was a very nice girl, and she pampered me more than I had ever been pampered before. Perhaps she was just turning me soft.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N I want to thank all of you for sticking around for this story! I really appreciate all of the reviews! But before we get further, I want to clarify something:**

**Empress Maud was a real person. You may have heard of her as Matilda, but either way, she was the daughter of King Henry I of England in the early 12th century. She became heir to the throne when her brother died in the White Ship Disaster in 1120, and was a child bride to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, which earned her the title of Empress. He died a decade later and they had no children, so she married Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, and had three children. When her father died in 1135, her cousin seized the throne, which led to civil wars. She was technically only queen for a few months, and it wasn't even legal, so she's left out of a lot of things.**

**So, there you go. Anna clearly knows her stuff when it comes to English history :P**

It was sometime in the morning that Gregory knelt in front of me and picked my head up, having somehow managed to escape his straightjacket and muzzle.

I growled at him. What did he want? To taunt me some more? Or was he going to boast about how he was clearly so much better than I?

After a while, he let me go and sighed before sitting cross-legged on the floor. "I suppose you'll be staying round here, then."

I stared at him. Was he actually going to speak to me as if I was more than just the dirt beneath his shoes?

"Father seems to like you. I honestly couldn't care less what happens to you. I was never going to be able to sell you on the black market anyway." He smiled a little before growing serious again. "Why did you do it? You could have let him burn, but you didn't. Wouldn't that have been easier? You could have gotten away, back to Rookery. He would've rewarded you."

I sighed and put my head on my paws. He was expressing the same thoughts that had plagued me since the previous night. But there was no use carrying on this conversation—at least, not while I couldn't have my say. Rising to my feet, I shook some dust off and walked towards the stairs leading to the rest of the house.

"Where are you going?" he hissed.

I ignored him and continued, pushing the door open as quietly as I could. I then left the darkness for a happy, sunny home, clearly furnished by an expert. As I crept about, I decided that there was no one home and made my way up to the master bedroom. I had smelled an adult female, probably Tony's mother, and she wouldn't mind if I borrowed some clothes, would she?

As I rifled through the closet, I found her outfits to be of little interest. They wouldn't fit me anyway; she was a few inches taller, by the looks of her pants. I ended up with a red cocktail dress that I put on in the bathroom after I had changed back to my more conventional form. Looking at myself in the mirror, there really wasn't anything too haggard about my appearance; the usual scrapes and scars still covered my face, and the long, painful line of scar tissue still ran from my jaw to the middle of my chest.

Nothing like looking pretty in a red dress with an array of scars to show off.

My hair was in desperate need of a wash, but there wasn't time for that. She could be arriving home at any moment, and I doubted she was expecting me to be there in her bathroom playing dress up with her clothing.

I ran back downstairs only after grabbing a pair of heels from the closet. Not the most practical of shoes, but even my limited fashion sense told me that I couldn't go around in anything else.

Gregory hissed as I appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Oh, shut up, will you?" I asked, walking past him to sit on an old rocking chair. "Nobody cares, anyway."

"Maud." He said, standing before me.

"Wrong, as usual." I stuck out my hand for him to shake. "Aksel."

He ignored my gesture. "Isn't that a masculine name?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Everything about you seemed male. Had I known that you were a woman, I wouldn't have behaved so awfully."

I snorted. "As if. You would have kept right on going. And I would have fought right back."

He looked irritated. "I preferred it when you couldn't talk."

I stood up and grabbed his face in my hand, as he had just several minutes earlier. "I preferred it when you were just something to kill."

"What, I'm not anymore?" he tried to escape my grip and failed. "Right shame."

"Ini'it though?" I imitated his accent.

"Stop that!"

"Stop whot?"

"That."

I slapped him as hard as I could. "You're not in charge of me, pretty boy."

He held a hand up to his bleeding cheek. "I should drain you and leave you here."

"Go ahead, try," I spread my arms open. "See if you're one of the lucky ones that survives. I really doubt that you are."

He glared at me for a moment before looking me over. "You don't really look that bad. For a dog." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me close to him. Running a finger along the jagged scar, he traced a line from my throat down to the hem of the dress. "What happened here?"

"Like you care," I spat.

His eyes met mine and I realized that he was serious.

Wrenching my arm away from him, I shrugged. "I s'pose I could tell you. Not like it matters, anyway. I was just on a routine run for a man in Latvia, tracking down a small flock of vampires. I almost had them when I was interrupted by a savage beast."

He looked at me, waiting for more. "And?"

"It attacked me."

"What was it?"

"Another werewolf. He got me pretty good, I reckon. Nearly bled out after a few hours, and there was nobody there for me. No humans, no wolves. Just this little family of blood-suckers. Of course, they wouldn't come near me because of my blood, but they gave me a blanket and a fresh pile of some kind of meat. The leader told me that the other werewolf had been killing their children left and right, and that I was now like them because he had attacked me." I raised my lip in a sneer. "It was disgusting to think about."

Gregory rocked back on his heels. "Ever find out what happened to the dog?"

"That's not important," I said quickly. Of course I had found out who he was and where he went. But it was embarrassing to think about. I sighed. "He went off to the mountains. I saw him again a few months later. He attacked me a second time, and left me to die in the snow."

"Why? Why not just kill you?"

I laughed. "He thought he was showing me mercy. Bastard he was. Left when I was just a pup, and then he goes and-"

"Your father?" Gregory asked quietly.

"Yeah, so?" I snapped, wiping at a tear starting to form in the corner of my eye. I laughed a little. "You probably think I'm weak or something now, eh?"

I waited for a verbal reply and instead got a hug. It caught me off guard and I didn't know what to do, other than just stand there and accept it. Werewolves never hugged. I had rarely received embraces like this. Usually, it was just light shoulder squeeze or something along those lines.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly and very uncharacteristically.

"About what?"

"Bringing it up. It obviously hurts, doesn't it?"

"Nothing I can do about it now. I've got scars all over, but I survived. Worst thing about it is that I'll never be one of those pretty girls in magazines."

He let go of me and crossed his arms. "Never been one for them."

"What the hell's that s'posed to mean?"

He shrugged. "Nothing in particular."

I shook my head. "You're rather civilized now that you aren't trying to kill me."

"I never tried to kill you," he said defensively. "Mortally wound you, maybe. Sell you as an exotic pet, sure. But not kill."

"Those shackles were shit," I said, smiling a bit. "You knew that."

"Of course I did. The real wonder is why you stayed in them for as long as you did."

"I needed sleep." I shoved him back towards his makeshift bed. "Like you do right now."

"How do I know you won't kill me?" he asked, backing towards his box.

"I won't kill you. Maim you, maybe. But never kill." I smiled. "I liked that…hug, was it? Don't get those too often in my line of work. It was nice."

He smiled a little and then rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "You want to…um…share this box with me? Not the best setting, I know, but-"

"Well, if you're just giving it away," I interrupted him and climbed in, kicking my heels off without any regards to what Tony's mother would think of them lying in a dirty cellar.

"Oy, move over," he said, shoving me out of the way. It was a very small box, and I ended up lying on top of him, hugging him like he was a teddy bear.

"This is…not what I expected we would have ended up being like when I first fought you," he commented.

I growled savagely, already nodding off to sleep. The last thing I remember before passing out was the feeling of him touching my scar again, and the sharp pain that went along with it. I never told anyone that it hurt. I deserved the pain.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N Here we are again! I'd like to welcome you to CHAPTER FIVE, in which we meet Aksel's daddy and find out how much of a psycho he really is! What fun! And am I the only person that enjoys saying 'vampire spawn' just for fun? ...Admit it. Say it to yourself. Enjoyable, wasn't it?**

**I don't own anyone unless they're mine, blah blah blah. You know the drill.**

"So you're the one to go to, are you?" Rookery asked the large man in front of him. "Got a good record, eh?"

The man smiled wide. "Of course." His thick Russian accent unsettled Rookery.

"You know, I lost a pup to this flock just the other night. Bit of a dangerous lot. But you're up for it?"

"Aksel was always a weak one," he said. He looked at the woman standing next to Rookery. "It came from her mother."

"Svetlana is one of the most highly regarded hunters I've heard of," Rookery said. "Think you're better?"

"I am the best."

"The comet passes over tonight. There will be an entire clan on the cliffs not far from here if they manage to find the stone. You can have all the fun you want."

"I look forward to it." he looked at the VampKill truck they stood next to. "What makes you so certain that she is dead?"

"I sent her down into their hiding hole two days ago. Saw her just last night, trying to escape, but she didn't make it out. Then I left and she hasn't been heard from since." Rookery cleared his throat. "Might I ask your name?"

"Arkadi," he narrowed his eyes and looked out over the fields. "When do I set off?"

"You just wait. We'll have them tonight."

"It's not the blood-suckers that I am eager to meet," Arkadi said, looking at Svetlana.

Rookery set off for the McAshton manor, leaving the two alone.

"Pity you did not stay with me all these years," Arkadi growled.

"Pity yourself," she snapped. "We've been fine without _you _in our lives. Yet the moment you appear here, my daughter disappears."

His lip curled in a snarl. "She is alive. She has most likely joined the pack of vampires."

"She has done no such thing!" Svetlana yelled. "Aksel would rather die than be considered their equal!"

"She is not their equal," Arkadi said. "She is below them. Nothing but a whimpering coward. Many times I have seen her fight, and many times I have been ashamed that she is of my flesh and blood."

"So you left her to die?"

"I wanted her to learn," he growled. "And she did not. Now I must teach her a final lesson."

"You won't lay a hand on her!"

"Oh? And who is going to stop me?" he laughed. "You? You did not stop me before, and you will fail to do so again. I never should have chosen you. I should have known that you would produce weak offspring."

"Maybe you're the one that makes weak children," she argued. "And had you been around to care for her, instead of leaving us, perhaps she would have been more of a killer."

"That is what you think, is it? Putting the blame on me? You raised her, so her flaws are all your fault. You should have thought about how her future might have been that day you didn't follow me."

"You were leading us to our deaths! We would have died in that rockslide. I was right to stay in the forest. And you were lucky to have survived. Or was that another test?"

Arkadi smiled before walking away. "We shall see how strong she really is tonight, if she is even alive. Until then, you may consider returning with me to the mountains were you belong."

Svetlana watched him leave, her blood boiling. She hated him. So very much. Her parents had insisted that she pair up with him back in the old country, and things had been fine until Aksel was born. Arkadi had managed to find something wrong with her every time he looked at the newborn. But Svetlana had stayed with him for protection; he still brought her food, and the promise of a safe life.

Then they had a fight, and he went his way and she took Aksel with her in another direction. They didn't see him again for many years, and when they did, it only spelled misfortune for her poor daughter. But there was nothing she could do now that Arkadi had made up his mind. If Aksel was indeed alive, she wouldn't be for very long.

Breaking into a run, she followed Rookery's truck down the road until she finally caught up to him at the estate.

"What're you doing here?" he asked, unhappy to see her.

"He's going to kill her," she panted.

"Nothing we can do about that, is there?"

She shook her head, feeling sick. "Do you think she's alive?"

He looked at her and sighed. "We saw her last night, and she was up on her feet. She may very well be. Who knows?"

"Then why is she with them?"

"You tell me." He studied her for a moment. "Why would a young werewolf without any cares team up with a family of vampires?"

"She was trained to hate them, and hate them she does." Svetlana shook her head. "They would not be able to contain her. Nothing in this world can."

"Strong for a pup,"

"She was always strong. She worked day and night when we weren't on an assignment so that she would one day be good enough to fight her father. If she is sided with the vampires, then there are very little reasons I can think of that would cause her to do so without a fight." She bit her lip. "What members of that clan are here?"

"Just the few we've seen. A father, his bride, and three children. Why?" he chuckled. "You aren't suggesting that she's in love, are you?"

"No. Love isn't a strong enough bond to keep her tied to something. It would have to be physical." She shook her head. "Enough of this. She is not carrying a vampire spawn. I'm going crazy." She took a step away. "Go on with your work; I'll return to the cemetery."

Rookery watched her go and thought about her words. That girl of hers was no lover. He had yet to see her in action, but he was convinced that she was ruthless, like that terrifying father of hers. He hadn't been lying when he said that she was bred to fight, and Svetlana bragged about her for hours. If Aksel was actually in love with the oldest vampire boy, it wasn't a true love.

He was interrupted from his thoughts when he spotted Lord McAshton speaking with a man. Now was the time to finally show this human what he was up against.


	6. Chapter 6

**I'M BACK! Did you miss me? Probably not. Oh well.**

**I just wanted to say that I like this chapter. A lot. And if you want the full effect, you should pop on over to ye olde youtube and listen to some Two Steps From Hell. **

**I also wanted to mention that I went back and watched the movie again, and it's just as awesome as the very first time I saw it, eight whole years ago xD Or something like that. I don't really know. But my heart still aches at the end...every damn time :c kind of like with Narnia. But that's another deal entirely. **

**Gregory is still just as cool as when I first saw him that day in elementary school. I can even remember that it was on Halloween, and we were having a movie party. My friend and I laughed and giggled for the rest of the week at Gregory's muzzle. It's still just as funny.**

I woke up in a cold sweat, my scar still aching. Who was I now, Harry Potter? I climbed out of the box and walked around the cellar a few times, trying to shake off the feeling of impending doom that settled around me. The vampires were all still asleep. I should have been as well.

But still, something was keeping me on edge. There was something terrible lurking nearby. Something that was going to threaten this family that I was beginning to call my own. Oh, how the thought sickened me. But it was as if I really was becoming…one of them. No, I didn't want to suck anyone's blood, but I wanted nothing more than for them to become my pack. My forever home.

I hadn't had a pack before; it was always only Mom and me, out on our own. That went against our natural instincts, but it was all we could do. Now I had found a place where they showed mercy, and for once I saw a father figure that didn't tear his children apart. Anna adored me, and I suspected that Rudolph didn't mind me so much either. And Gregory…was a good teddy bear. Freda was a loving mother. This was a real family. This was what I wanted.

And if there was something evil out there that wanted to hurt them, it would be going through me first.

I was still pacing when Anna woke up. She woke Rudolph up as well.

"What?" he asked sleepily.

"Tony's calling," she said. "He could be in danger!"

Rudolph sat up. "Maybe he's found the stone. Let's go."

I had no idea what they were talking about, but I didn't want to interrupt it. Whatever it was, they could handle it.

"Oh, the drama!"

"Shh!"

"Oh dear! The sun!"

"Daylight or not, we must go." Heroic, wasn't he?

"Where are you going?" Gregory asked.

"You stay here," Rudolph grabbed a helmet and headed off with his sister, leaving me to wonder what they were up to. No one was going to threaten them if they were outside during the day.

I continued my pacing, even as Gregory left, stealthily, with his father's amulet. I let him go, not wanting to speak at the moment. I felt sick with worry. So I kept on pacing, traveling around the room dozens of times before Freda and Frederick woke to find their children gone.

"Tonight's the night," Freda said. "Mortality beckons."

Frederick felt for his amulet, finding it gone. "Gregory. He's stolen the amulet. He will crush our hopes. His final mockery."

"No," Freda said, sitting next to him. "He's a rebel, but treachery is beyond him. If he has taken the amulet, it's to make the call."

I approached them quietly, standing next to Freda. "If I may,"

They both started at my appearance.

"You've…changed back," Freda said, cautiously stroking my cheek. "Dear, you're beautiful,"

I searched her eyes, and saw nothing but honesty. No mockery. Just a mother's love. "Thank you,"

"I never showed my gratitude for protecting me from the light," Frederick said. "You have my most sincere thanks." He stood shakily. "We must go to the cliffs. But I am still very weak. I would fall from the sky if I flew."

Freda smiled. "We will find a way."

Just then, the voices of Tony's parents sounded upstairs, and the two vampires smiled at each other.

A few moments later, I was witness to a vampiric seduction. It troubled me deeply, but all I could do was stand out of sight as Freda and Frederick spoke with the Thompsons. We were about to leave when a car pulled into the driveway and a man got out, a wooden stake in his hands.

"Hold up, Thompson!" he said.

I didn't listen. I was more intent on trying to explain why the dress I wore was so shockingly similar to one of Dottie's and why I wasn't dressed at all like the Sackville-Baggs couple.

"I'm…well, you see, I don't quite-"

"This is our adopted daughter, Maud," Freda said, putting a hand on my shoulder. I could feel her fear at having to touch my bare skin and tried to convey a sense of security.

"You have to drive this stake through Tony's heart," Lord McAshton said.

Dottie suddenly started paying attention. "Oh my God!"

"He's already dead! He's a vampire. It's not easy for a father to hear, but your son's a blood-sucking fiend."

I had to laugh at that.

"Take this. You'll thank me in the morning."

"I've had enough of all you people and your vampire BS," Bob said. I laughed at that as well. "And don't call Tony a vampire ever again! And how dare you embarrass me and my wife in front of our guests!" he pointed at us. "These are aristocrats!"

I gave a little wave.

"Aristocrats?" Lord McAshton asked, putting a monocle up to his eye.

"Yes, My Lord," Frederick said. "And Tony happens to be my son's best friend. Robert is right. Tony is no vampire. Now drop that axe, and take your leave."

"Yeah," Bob said. "Take your leave, or you'll be building your own gold course, buddy."

"All right," he walked back to his car.

A few moments later, we were on our way to the cliffs.

"Robert, could you drive a little faster, please?" Frederick asked anxiously.

"Darling, do you hear?" Freda asked.

"Hear what?" Dottie asked.

"The call,"

"I don't hear anything but a mildly annoying, whirring sound," I grumbled.

"Quiet, you," Frederick whispered.

At that moment, I decided to just be an ass. The Thompsons would be figuring out that their new friends were vampires soon anyway, so why not have some fun? I didn't usually get to have fun like this. Life was usually very serious, which resulted in a very twisted sense of humor for me.

"It's Gregory, our eldest son," Frederick said.

"Yum," I said, quiet enough that only the vampires could hear. "Sounds like dog bait."

Freda gave me a look that told me to shut up, but I wasn't about to heed it.

"He's calling the clan," Frederick continued.

"Fat lot of good that'll do," I commented.

"What makes you say that?" Dottie asked.

"Nothing in particular. Oh look, we're here."

"Maud, stay here," Frederick ordered. "For when the family arrives."

"Wait, why?" I asked.

"Make sure there are no…mishaps. You know how we can get."

"Is that really such a good idea?" I whispered, following him out of the car. "I mean, I think they'd like me even less than the Thompsons."

"Yes, but they won't touch you. Just stay put."

I watched him go and speak to Anna and Gregory and pouted next to the car. Dottie rolled her window down to speak with me.

"So, what exactly is going on here?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just stay in the car."

"Why? I thought we were going to watch a comet,"

"We are. But stay here for the moment." I jumped as I heard a bat overhead.

"What?"

"Bats," I hissed as they began transforming into their vampire forms.

"Something weird is happening here," Dottie said.

A vampire landed on the other side of the car and she screamed. "Bob!"

They began crowding around and I continued back towards the car until I was literally on top of it, growling and snarling as they tried to get to either me or the humans.

"What are you doing here?" someone asked.

"Stay away," I said.

"Why's there a wolf?" another shouted.

"Wolf?" the word echoed across the crowd. "Wolf? Wolf?"

"Leave them alone," Frederick said, more intent on protecting the humans than he was about me. "They're friends."

"You don't even care about me," I said from my spot on the roof.

"You can take care of yourself," he walked away.

"Oh, he says they're friends," a woman said. "Friends."

"A wolf?"

"Friends."

"Friends with a wolf? Frederick?"

"Must've hit his head."

"Yeah, that's right!" I yelled. "Friends!"

I jumped to the ground and was about to walk towards Gregory when an irregular movement caught my eye. I spun around to face it but saw nothing but grass.

I was overcome with a terrible feeling of déjà vu as I continued walking toward the edge of the cliff. This had happened to me before; this uncertainty, this feeling that something was there when there was nothing. I kept scanning the area as I traveled backwards, causing the vampires much concern.

"Oy! What're you doing?" a man asked as I bumped into him.

"Shut it," I snarled. "You're lucky I'm not in a killing mood."

I had almost reached Gregory when I spied movement again, only this time it took shape.

"No," I breathed in disbelief. It was happening once more.

"What?" Gregory asked behind me. "Aksel, what is it?"

"He's here," I said, still in shock. "And he's headed towards the car!"

"Wait!" Gregory tried to grab my arm but I slipped out of his grasp, sprinting back the way I had come. This time the other vampires knew that something was wrong, and let me by without any words.

I saw Dottie and Bob's confused faces as I ran towards them, unaware of the monster standing just a few feet away.

"_NO!" _I screamed, skidding to a stop in front of him.

He laughed, his bloody jaws spread open in a hideous smile. "Good to see you, pup."

My father was one of the few werewolves that could speak while in his beast form. He always claimed that it made him better than the rest of us.

"Stay away from them," I said.

"Away from what?" he asked, dropping to all fours and walking towards the car. "These little fleas? These _humans?"_ he stuck a paw out and ripped four long gashes in the side of the SUV.

Bob and his wife got out and stood, looking on in shock.

"What…?" Dottie asked.

"Don't move," Frederick ordered, walking silently up behind them.

"What's going on?" Bob breathed.

"Oh, look," Arkadi laughed. "You did not tell them that I would be here?"

"How was I supposed to know?" I asked.

"You could not have guessed? You did not think I would miss seeing my own daughter slaughter a clan of vampires?"

"Vampires?" Dottie asked, looking around.

"I thought she was _your _daughter," Bob said, confused.

"I told you that she was adopted," Frederick said.

Arkadi advanced toward me and I stood my ground. I had learned from the last time he had saw me. "You really _have _joined them, have you?"

"I haven't joined anyone," I growled.

"Something tells me you have," he said. "Why don't we test your feelings for them?"

In a single leap he was in the middle of the throng of vampires. They ran from his immense form. All except one that he had trapped beneath his claws.

"Let's do away with the little one first, shall we?" he asked, lowering his jaws toward Anna. She screamed and tried to get away, pushing against him in a desperate attempt to free herself.

"Let her go!" I shouted.

"Not changing forms, though," he laughed evilly. "Can't have that, can we?" he snapped at her and she screamed again.

"Let my daughter go!" Frederick yelled. Freda held him back.

"Aksel, change!" Gregory shouted. "Just do it!"

"Didn't want to ruin the dress," I muttered. "Sorry, Dottie!"

I didn't stop walking towards Arkadi as I changed this time. I imagine it was more impressive, and it felt like I just exploded out rather than the gradual change I was used to. The dress ripped as I roared and thrashed, and Arkadi stopped to actually pay attention for once.

I dropped to the ground and ran at him, meeting him on my hind legs. Anna got away and ran back to her father. The vampire clan formed a circle to watch from, cheering. I assumed it was for me.

Arkadi put his paws on my shoulders and tried to push me over, but I wasn't going to be so easily won. I pushed back, harder than I ever had before.

"Why are you fighting for them?" he asked, almost amused. He backed towards the crowd and grabbed someone by their shirt collar. Lifting him up, I saw that he had Gregory. "Would you care if I killed him?"

I roared and ran at him, slashing at his belly until he dropped Gregory. Arkadi then got his paws around my neck and threw me away from him. He picked Gregory up again. I couldn't see their fighting through my blurred vision.

"Why are you doing this?" Gregory snarled. There was a thud.

Arkadi growled. "Do not speak to me, vampire scum."

I tried to get up, but my legs slid out from under me and I fell to the ground once more. Struggling, I pulled myself forward, my lack of vision confusing me.

"Maud, get up!" I heard Anna run towards me. "You must! He's going to kill Gregory!"

_No he isn't. _

With renewed fervor, I stood and my vision began clearing. I leaped and found myself on Arkadi's back, throwing him off balance. He fell back onto me and let Gregory go. I kicked at his spine and before I could do anything else he was upon me, his jaws around my throat. My vision blurred again.

But I didn't need to see. I knew where the cliff's edge was. And that's where he was going.

I stood and shoved him, catching him off guard. I shoved and shoved until he suddenly wasn't there any longer, and I heard his scream before he crashed onto the rocks below.

Chest heaving, I turned to Gregory and crouched over him. He didn't move. I licked his face. Still nothing. I continued licking, hoping that it would wake him up. It eventually did, and his eyes opened. He smiled a bit and I wagged my tail.

Frederick addressed the rest of the clan. If Gregory was lost, they had to continue, for the good of everyone. It made sense to me. "After all of our wandering, and everything we've been through, I've left our fate in the hands of two young boys. I won't even ask your forgiveness. I don't deserve it."

"Aksel," Gregory said weakly. I was glad no one else was paying attention.

I gingerly lifted a paw to his face, suddenly aware of how fragile he was compared to me. I didn't want the adrenaline left in my veins to end up hurting him.

"Tony's near!" Anna said suddenly.

"Where?" Dottie asked, looking around.

"There!" she pointed to the sky, where I saw Rudolph and Tony arriving. They landed, and Tony presented some shiny thing to Frederick. I didn't know what it was, and I didn't care. All that mattered at the moment was making sure that Gregory didn't die.

And then, I once again did something crazy and very, very stupid.

Slicing the pad of my paw on a nearby rock, I offered the blood to him. He was dying, and if, by some tiny margin of luck, he was immune to my poison, he would survive until the end of whatever ceremony was being performed.

He looked at me and laughed. "I'm not stupid enough for that."

But I insisted, shoving my paw in his face. He finally gave up fighting me and I felt him sucking it up, slowly at first, but then more forcefully when he realized that it wasn't killing him. People around us stopped listening to Frederick and watched one of the rarest moments in history.

"He's…not dying," a woman said.

Within a few moments, Gregory was strong enough to stand. He smiled at me before joining his family. I went to stand with the humans, experiencing a strange new emotion as I watched Frederick hold the amulet, complete with the stone, to the comet.

As a beam of light shot down from the heavens, I realized that Gregory was leaving this dark world for a silly one filled with humans. I could exist in both, but he clearly only wanted the sunny one.

Without warning, the beam of light was cut off as a huge blimp rose from below the cliff. Rookery leapt off from it and kicked the amulet from Frederick's hands, landing amongst the vampires with his fluorescent cross. They hissed and shrank away, fearing it.

He caught sight of me and stopped for a moment. "So you really did join them, eh?" he stomped towards me. "Saw your father smashed on the rocks down there. Do you really think that these _vampires_ are going to accept you?"

I was in the process of standing up to face him when I spotted my mother approaching from behind the Thompsons' car.

"Aksel, what are you doing?" she asked furiously, running up to me. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

There was an intense moment of silence during which I found myself turning my back to my mother and walking over to stand next to the Sackville-Baggs family, who were still cowering from the light with the rest of their clan.

"Fine," Rookery decided. "You can go straight to hell with the rest of them."

There was much screaming and crying as he shoved the cross around in everyone's faces. I was only half paying attention, as Mom chose that moment to have a charming mother-daughter talk with me.

I could hear bones cracking as she squeezed my paw, one of her mildest forms of torture. "You've lost your edge, Aksel!"

I whined and whimpered, but instead of stopping the pain she moved on to twisting my arm until I was almost sure that it was going to be dislocated at some point.

"You used to be a great hunter," she hissed, leaning close to me. "I was always so proud of you. When Arkadi told me you had joined the blood-suckers, I didn't believe him. I told him that there was no way you would have done such a thing. But now look at you." She spat in my face. "He was right all along."

I had never thought that my mother would say things like that to me. I expected it from my father, but never the woman who had cared for me and protected me for my entire life. I couldn't have ever imagined that I would end up disobeying her, but I couldn't let her do what she wanted to do to this family.

Somewhere behind me, Bob and Dottie beat up Rookery. I let them have their fun; it only made sense that humans should be fighting humans while I dealt with my mother, who I now realized was crazy. She sneered at me before turning to run off just as Rookery was pushed from the cliff.

"The ceremony!" Frederick shouted as everyone turned their attention back to the bright comet in the sky.

"Tony! You know what we want!" Rudolph yelled. "Wish it!"

I whined and put my head on Gregory's shoulder. It was almost time.

"Cheer up, mutt," he said, absolutely beaming. It was a stark contrast to my slight panic. "I'll be around."

"Oh, Maud!" Anna hugged me. "I _will _find you again!"

The beam of light shot down from the comet again, bathing everything in red. My panic escalated and I wrapped my furry arms around Gregory, despite the broken bones. He laughed and was suddenly engulfed in mist. A few moments later, he was gone.

Everything came crashing down on me and I collapsed, exhausted, broken, and bleeding.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter seven is here! Hope y'all like it. And no, this won't be the last one, even though the plot that follows the movie will be over here. I just can't tear myself away from Aksel...she's my baby xD Reviews are love~**

I woke up the next morning at the Thompson house, and that's where I stayed during the following weeks. I was treated to sleeping in past the sunrise and complete breakfasts of sausages and eggs with fresh fruit on the side. Dottie seemed to enjoy teaching me about how to be a faux-human woman, and took me shopping whenever she had the time. Initially, I didn't trust them and thought about running from the house to be on my own in the wild, but my bed was comfy and the food was good, so I kept telling myself that I would stay just one more night and then I would be gone.

But after about the seventh time telling myself that, I gave in. I liked having an easy life. Tony spent hours teaching me how to read, and we quickly went through such classics as _Dracula _and Mary Shelley's_ Frankenstein. _I was also treated to unlimited television, a luxury I rarely experienced.

Bob taught me about golf, a sport I was not entirely thrilled with. It was far more entertaining to roll in the sand, but that was evidently frowned upon during our nightly "family walks," during which we toured the countryside. I was allowed to stretch my legs under cover of moonlight, running freely through the fields. Sometimes we visited the cliffs, and occasionally Tony and I went to the graveyard to explore the old crypt.

We found a few remnants from the Sackville-Baggs, but it seemed that they didn't have very much other than what they carried on their backs. A handkerchief and earring were the only notable discoveries that we made, and we eventually stopped visiting the old hideout.

As our cemetery adventures waned, Dottie found more time to teach me about looking good in society. It turned out that my few ventures into public around the world had been too isolated, and as I was always tended to by maids working for whomever my employer at the time was, I never actually learned how to do anything on my own.

I told the Thompsons about my past, and explained everything that I could to them. It was a bit difficult, telling them about my father and all the people I had killed. Thankfully, they were forgiving, and didn't throw me out of the house or anything. They seemed to understand enough about the Sackville-Baggs's story that I didn't need to say very much about them, and I was glad for that. I didn't want to have to talk about my almost-home.

I was taken to lots of parties held at the McAshton estate, which I found ironic due to the fact that he and Rookery had been pals towards the end. I found out all about Elizabeth McAshton and the Lord's vampire lineage, and that only made me miss my old vampire friends even more. I wanted to look for them, track them down somehow, but I didn't have any way to begin and instead settled for simply waiting, as Tony seemed committed to the strategy.

One morning, I woke up to a bright sun shining in through the windows and forced myself out of bed. I went downstairs to a plate covered in breakfast sausage and began eating while Dottie and Bob told me about the plans for the day.

"I want to go to the market," Dottie said, sitting down at the table across from me. "We need some more bread, and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day."

"Plus I think someone is finally moving into that old house in town," Bob said, using his coffee mug to sort of point at me, a strange human gesture that I had yet to understand. "We might be able to meet our new neighbors finally."

"Oh, joy." I muttered.

"I don't want new neighbors," Tony said, pouting. "I want Rudolph to come back."

"Honey, we don't know when he's coming back," Dottie said soothingly. "But I'm sure he will soon."

I stopped eating to contribute to the conversation a bit more than I already had. "We might as well go check it out. It's probably just an elderly couple, though."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Dottie said, giving me the look that meant I had said something inappropriate for formal society. She was training me to be kind and courteous in a way somewhat similar to how my mother had trained me to slaughter the innocent.

"You kids get dressed," Bob decided. "We're going to the market in ten minutes."

As I made my way back upstairs, I listened in on Dottie's conversation with her husband. It was as if they thought I couldn't hear everything that went on throughout the house, the way they spoke so openly.

"She's not a kid, Bob," Dottie said. I heard the chink of glass as she put some dishes in the sink.

"So my tongue slipped," I imagined him shrugging. "Besides, she's enjoying learning about everything. I don't think she'd be very angry at the thought of being called a kid."

"Aksel," Tony whispered from the top of the stairs. "Can you hear them?"

I nodded.

"What are they saying?"

"Nothing important," I said, walking to my room. I was dressed and ready in scarlet skinny jeans and a Rocky Horror shirt. I had watched it not long ago with Dottie, who was a surprising fan of cult "flicks" as I believe she referred them. Brad and Janet's predicament had reminded me of one I had once found myself in, without…well…most of the plot.

We drove to the market and I stuck my head out the window as usual. I noticed a farmer who seemed very delighted to see his cows in the barn and felt happy for him, however strange his rejoice may have been.

But wait. Wasn't that the farm…weren't those the cows….

"So, Aksel, have you given any thought to whether you want to go to school when the semester starts next year?" Bob asked.

I stared at him. "School? Like…where you sit around all day, with nothing to kill—"

Dottie glared at me.

"I mean…"

"Look, we're here!" Bob said, changing the subject drastically. We parked and then began shopping.

"Keep an eye on Tony, will you?" Dottie whispered to me. "I'm worried about him."

At least it gave me something to do, other than inspect vegetables.

"What's up?" I ruffled his spiky hair.

He shrugged and started playing with a Yo-Yo.

I gave up trying to talk to him. He obviously wasn't in the mood. I had just turned my back for a second when I realized that he wasn't there anymore and was instead across the street harassing two little human kids.

"Aksel, where's…" Dottie's voice trailed off as a couple more humans appeared. "Is that…?"

But I was already running towards the human boy with the dog collar. When I reached him, I kissed him, something that was mentioned several times in the books I had read with Tony.

Gregory stared at me. "Aksel, what—"

"That's what humans do to show that they care about each other, yes?" I asked, licking the taste of apple off my lips.

He smiled, throwing the apple core over his shoulder. "Sort of. How've you been, mutt?"

"I learned to read."

"You didn't know before?"

"I haven't killed anyone."

"That's an accomplishment, I'm sure."

"Bob wants me to go to school."

"Don't do it, it's a trap."

"Wanna go out for dinner or something?"

"Of course."

"Maud!" Anna interrupted our little conversation and hugged me. "I said I would return to you, didn't I?"

"Anna, her name isn't-"

"Gregory, shush!" she said, waving him away. "Maud and I are going to catch up and have girl talk."

"I'm not very good at that," I said as she walked me towards the new house.

"That's fine," she smiled even brighter. "I can talk, and you can listen. I did have a few questions I'd hoped you could answer, though."

"What kind of questions?"

She pulled me up the stairs and into her room. "Now, you must tell me, what was it like?"

"What was what like?"

"The kiss, of course!"

Oh, God. _That's _what she wanted to talk about? I forced myself to calm down. As long as it didn't escalate to sex, I wouldn't be ruining her innocence. Then again, she grew up in the 1700s or something, didn't she? Wouldn't she have been almost old enough to get married? I decided not to think about it.

"Oh…that," I rubbed my arm. "To be honest, I wasn't paying much attention. I thought that it was a routine thing for humans, but I'm getting the feeling now that it's not."

She was absolutely gushing. "Oh, isn't love _wonderful?"_

"I wouldn't know,"

"Oh, _of course_ you would know! You love my brother, don't you?"

"I…don't know."

"Well, you a_re _courting him, aren't you?"

"Am I?"

"Oh, Maud, don't you know anything about romance?" she asked, a dreamy look in her eyes as she clasped her hands together. "You and him, him and you, together forever, sharing moonlit picnics outside under the stars-"

"Anna, come on! We're going to Tony's house!" Rudolph called.

"I'm coming!" she yelled. Turning to me, she said, "You should find Gregory. He's probably outside."

I waited until she was gone before leaving the house to go back into the street where I overheard a conversation between Dottie and Freda.

"If you're truly so worried, let her live with us, dear," Freda said soothingly.

"It's not that I'm worried about her so much as what she can do," Dottie confessed as they walked away to buy some freshly brewed tea for the chilly day. "What if she has some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder?"

I didn't really need to listen anymore and sat down on a regal-looking chair that no doubt belonged to the Sackville-Baggs's collection of impressive furniture. They had obviously been talking about me, and although I understood Dottie's concern, I still felt mildly offended by her lack of trust in me.

"Interesting that you should choose to sit in that chair," I turned to see Frederick standing beside me, looking much more chic and modern than the last time I had seen him. "My great-grandfather died in it."

"How charming," I mumbled. "Did he irritate some villagers by destroying their homes and eating their wives? Because that's how my great-grandfather went."

He chuckled. "No, not quite. He succumbed to wounds inflicted by a beast he had chained to the wall in the dungeon."

"It was a bear, right?"

"It was a werewolf. A large one, too. It was going to be sold to another aristocrat the following night, but apparently it disagreed with the notion."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"My story isn't finished," he said. "The beast escaped into the night. The next morning, a young man appeared to deliver a poorly-written letter from his father, declaring that all werewolves in his line would henceforth destroy anyone that tried to confine them."

I stared at him. "Was that supposed to help me in any way? Because I'm not finding much of a moral to that story."

He shrugged. "You seemed to need something else on your mind. But it is good to see you again, friend."

"You're just happy because I'm around to save your life again," I smiled.

"Indeed." He clapped me on the shoulder. "Here comes Gregory. I'm sure he wants a word with you." With that, he disappeared, leaving me with a very relaxed-looking Gregory to deal with.

"Fancy a walk?" he asked, British as ever, offering me his hand.

"A walk where?" I accepted his hand and he continued holding it as we made our way down the street. It was an interesting sensation, feeling his fingers entwined with mine. I had read about that as well, and wondered if it was a common human behavior. How was I supposed to know all of these things? I had been so isolated for so much of my life. I knew the basics, and Dottie had taught me quite a lot, but it was nothing compared to a life of learning and observing. A life I hadn't been brought up in.

"To the cemetery," he said. "I want to visit the crypt again."

"That old place?" I raised an eyebrow at him as a pair of middle-aged ladies looked at us as if we were diseased.

"If you don't want to come, you can stay here with Anna. I'm sure she'd love to do your makeup."

I moved my hand to hold his arm, as it seemed classier to me. "I can do my own makeup now, I'll have you know."

"Yeah?" he looked down at me. "Still hard to imagine that you're a girl."

"Shut up. I have all the feminine charms I need."

"What, chopping heads off? Slicing throats? Seems sexy enough to me."

"You know, I could rip your arm off right now." I said. "It would be easy. Like picking a flower."

He suddenly grabbed my shoulders and spun me to face him. "Go right ahead. But if you do, you won't be able to enjoy this nearly as frequently." He kissed me, with much more skill and finesse than when I had stupidly kissed him. Sparks didn't fly in my head, but my heart was pounding so much that it certainly felt like there was.

"Let's continue this in private," he said, grinning.

"You've had practice," I commented as we continued on to the cemetery.

"I courted a girl a few hundred years ago, when we were human the first time. I learned how to kiss then." He looked at me from the corner of his eye. "What about you? Any past loves?"

"No." I answered sullenly.

"None at all?"

"Love is a weak emotion. My mother made sure to drill that into my head." I smiled a little, remembering. "Although, there was this one boy-"

Gregory bristled. "Was he taller than me?"

"…why do you care?"

"I just want to know."

"He was a werewolf, idiot. Of course he was tall. Brawny."

He rolled his shoulders. "Let's talk about something else, then. Tell me about your life."

"What about it?"

"I dunno. An interesting story, maybe. I'm sure you've got loads."

I shrugged. "I went to prison once. Ended up ruling the place. Killed the top dog."

"Literally, or figuratively?"

"Figuratively. I was going after a Brazilian vampire and got caught up in a huge drug ring. They took me to this prison where a couple guys die every day because the women's jail was full, and right away this big hoard of Satanists came after me. There was a massacre that day."

"You're positively psychotic."

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that-"

"Kids these days," a man in a sweater vest commented to a well-dressed lady.

I stopped to snarl at them but Gregory pulled me along. "Ignore it."

"I don't like human society," I growled. "Everyone is so…judgmental."

"Haven't you done any wandering around town? Shouldn't you know that by now?"

"I'm usually not allowed out on my own. Besides, high society is different from this."

He sighed unhappily. "Ah. High society. It hadn't occurred to me that I'd be going back to that."

"It's not really so bad," I said. "I must admit, I enjoy getting dressed up and gushed over by Dottie and then going to some party where no one knows me. We made up some shit about how the Thompsons adopted me from Bob's late third cousin." I looked at my feet and kicked a pebble. It soared into a nearby wall and shattered in a small puff. "But I guess they're handing ownership of the dog over to your parents."

"Well, you are a dog," Gregory said. I glared at him. "I'm sure they don't think of you that way."

"Why shouldn't they? You did. Frederick did. Rookery did."

He didn't say anything for a while. I was worried that he didn't see the point in arguing with me. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak. "We were wrong about you. _I _was wrong about you. Yeah, you're absolutely crazy, but you've at least got a brain."

I had to smile at that.

Ten minutes later, we were running past graves, looking for an entrance to the crypt. The old caretaker looked up and smiled at us and Gregory skidded to a stop, recognizing him as the man he had bitten.

"Mr. Sackville-Bagg," he said in that heavy Scottish accent, nodding to Gregory and then looking at me, waving his shovel in a mock threat. "And _you, _always running about, digging up bones to chew."

Gregory gave me an odd look.

"…What? It was once. I was having an off day."

"But the important part is that you found what you were looking for," the caretaker winked, turning back to his work cleaning off an old headstone.

Gregory looked at me again as we continued on our way. "You came here looking for me?"

I tried not to look too embarrassed, but it wasn't working. "Tony wanted to search for all of you. He got really lonely, you know? But Dottie and Bob wouldn't let him go out after night unless I was there to rip apart whatever might try to eat him. Then I started getting lonely too, so I came here on my own." _To just go and lay around in the crypt, missing you like an emotional little girl. _

He smiled as we reached the crypt entrance and climbed down into the darkness. It was ironic, the way he suddenly seemed so fragile and helpless in the dark. I myself couldn't see immensely well, but I could smell and hear everything. While he flailed around, I took his hand and led him to a little spot where Tony had stored a few candles and a book of matches.

"Romantic, isn't it?" Gregory asked as I lit the candles.

"Is it? I wouldn't know. I've only read about romance." I said, blowing out the match.

He leaned toward me and kissed me again. I was starting to like it, despite the sloppiness of exchanging saliva. Or maybe that was just because of my…drool.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey y'all :D How's it going? I, for one, am trying to survive some really bad storms right now! Huzzah for survival! **

**So, this is the part where I once again ask for some help...as you know, I've gone through all of the movie plot already, and I really do plan on continuing this and letting it turn into its own thing. I've got some ideas, but I want to know what you guys think! So PM me or leave a suggestion in a review and we'll see what we can all come up with :3**

"Be a good girl," Dottie kissed my forehead. "I'll see you at the party tomorrow night."

I just nodded in response. It was only two days after the Sackville-Baggs had reappeared, and already I was moving in with them. Not that I was complaining; I loved them. I loved their house. I loved that my room was across the hall from Gregory's.

"See you soon, kid," Bob said. Tony hugged me.

"Oh, Maud!" Anna exclaimed as the Thompsons drove away. She had refused to give in and accept my real name. "This is so wonderful! We can stay up late, doing each other's makeup, reading romantic novels, and planning your dates with Gre-"

"Anna, if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with Aksel," Freda said, gently steering me away from her daughter.

"What is this about?" I asked. I was honestly very worried. Was she going to go all alpha-female on me, demanding that I stay away from her son?

"Darling, I'm so very happy for you," she said. "I want you to know that if you ever need anything, I will always be here for you."

"You aren't…angry with me?"

"Why ever would I be? You've made Gregory very happy. I haven't seen him so cheerful in centuries. I can't say that I'm an expert on werewolf fertility, but it is my understanding that you are very nearly sterile, so I don't have very many concerns as far as your safety." She smiled at me, and I took in her modern face, again missing the old, vampiric one. "I know how young couples are; Frederick and I never behaved, so I suppose I can't count on you to. Just don't do anything too foolish. Dinner is at seven."

She left me on that cheerful note. I found myself going upstairs to my room and sitting on the bed, not wanting to think about what she had just said. Everything was antique, but the wardrobe was already full of clothes Dottie had bought me. I decided to take a shower, as I had gone out in the morning for a walk with Tony and rolled in some mud. I wanted to smell nice for dinner, because Frederick hinted that I would be receiving a large portion of beef as a sort of house-warming gift.

I was washing my hair when I heard the door open. "Gregory, get out."

"Why?" I heard him sit on the counter next to the sink. A lot of the house had apparently been remodeled recently, and now everything was modern, including the bathrooms. "It's not like I haven't seen you naked before."

"If you're thinking about moments when I'm covering in three inches of fur, I'll have you know that that doesn't count."

"Your shampoo smells good."

"It's kind of overwhelming, but everyone keeps saying that it's nice, so I've been going with it." I continued massaging my scalp for a while. Werewolves were never shy about their bodies, and I was no exception. It kind of went with the whole fact that we frequently ran around in the woods in the nude. Besides, Gregory liked me. Why shouldn't he see me naked?

I turned the water off and pulled the curtain aside, leaning on the wall next to the shower as Gregory looked up and stared.

"Well don't just stand there and gawk," I said. He jumped off the counter and walked up to me.

"You're…curvier than I thought," he ran his hands over my hips and waist, feeling my firm stomach and trailing his fingers along my thighs.

"Yeah, well…I guess werewolves are supposed to be." Really, I was nothing special. Not a supermodel or anything like that. My years in the wilderness meant that my skin was tough and my hands and feet calloused in a way that was hardly sexy.

"Really? Why would that be?" he asked, not really paying much attention to what he was saying.

I shrugged. "Now hand me a towel, will you? You've seen enough for one night."

"What? Already?"

"Towel."

He handed it to me and I wrapped it around myself before starting to comb my hair. Gregory wrapped his arms around me from behind and rested his head on my shoulder as I went about my business.

"Aksel?"

"Hmm?"

"Why didn't your blood kill me?"

"You were lucky," I said.

"I was always told that the chances of being immune were so slim that no one even tried to learn more about it."

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm too much for you to handle," I laughed, elbowing him away so that I could grab the clothes I had brought into the bathroom with me. I let my towel drop to the floor and Gregory stared again, taking everything in. It was both unsettling and empowering. "Am I prettier than your last girlfriend?"

He cleared his throat. "Don't remember much about her. Father wanted me to marry her, but I disagreed with his plan. Luckily, we became vampires shortly after."

"Are you ever disappointed that you didn't finish your life in a different century?" I pulled on some skinny jeans.

"Not really. The music here is much better."

"I quite enjoy the classical scene," I said, grabbing a shirt.

"Well, it's perfectly fine, until you have to sit through a six hour concert every night."

"I imagine that would be tedious." I smiled. "Now get out. I have to do my hair."

Dinner was boring. Tony was over, as usual, and everyone paid attention to him and asked loads of various questions while I tore through several servings of raw beef. Despite all of my refining and molding, it seemed that I was still somewhat beastly when it came to certain things, like food. But I figured that that was good, as it meant that I was still myself. Sure, I knew all about forks and knives, but who wants to use _those_?

"So, Tony, do you have any plans for the week after next?" Freda asked, politely, as always. "We were considering a vacation."

A vacation? That only sounded slightly disastrous.

"Of course, Aksel would need to stay here to guard the house in our absence."

I breathed an audible sigh of relief. Having some time alone in a giant, drafty, possibly haunted house seemed like a nice break from the inevitable hours upon hours of etiquette lessons that I would no doubt be spending with Freda.

"Sounds like an excellent plan," I said, licking my plate clean.

Freda sighed. "You still have a lot to learn."

"Mother, I'll teach her!" Anna piped up. "Maud will learn all about not licking plates!"

Her mother smiled and I groaned. "That sounds lovely, dear." She rose and began collecting empty plates. "I do wish the maids would arrive sooner rather than later. I can't keep doing this work…why don't you children go out and play while the sun is still up?"

Before I could do anything, Rudolph had grabbed my arm and I was being dragged outside to keep an eye on them. I sat in the grass and mostly ignored them; I still wasn't too good with kids. Besides, they looked like they were doing fine without my input.

"Hey," I looked up to see Gregory standing over me, hands casually in his pockets.

"Hey," I said as he sat down. "What's up?"

He shrugged. "I just spent ten minutes trying to convince my mother that I should stay behind while they go on holiday."

"Yeah? What did she say?"

"She wasn't too keen on it. Father was, though." He smiled devilishly. "I think we're going to have the house to ourselves for a while."

"How dreadful," I said sarcastically. "Whatever shall I do, left alone in a house with only _you_ as company?"

"Mmmhm," he smiled and leaned in to nuzzle my neck. "I can think of a few things."

"You are a dirty, _dirty _boy." I put a hand on the side of his head and pulled him further in towards me.

I felt his lips on my throat and was reminded of a time, not too long ago, when that would have driven me into a panic. But now, as he peppered me with kisses, I couldn't feel safer. And I was _so _happy that I had unknowingly paved the way for our romance with that first innocent kiss.

"Aksel," Gregory said.

"Hmm?"

He sat up straight and turned me to face him. "Would you accompany me to the party tomorrow?"

"Well, I've gotten _so _many offers, I just don't know if I can go with all of them." I rolled my eyes. "Of course I'll be your date, silly."

He smiled. "I had hoped you'd say yes."

With a sigh, I stared up at the stars and wondered where my mother was. Had she already gone back to some forgotten wilderness to hook up with another guy and try to raise another kid, or was she lurking somewhere nearby? Did she ever think of me? I liked to imagine that she missed me and regretted being such a bitch, but I had no idea if that was even close to true. I had never been one for getting homesick, probably because I never really had a home, but this slight nausea in my stomach seemed like the right sensation.

Straining my ears, I heard a muffled _"Good night!" _from Anna's room. Footsteps followed, and soon I heard the balcony doors swing open below me.

"Aksel?" Freda asked, looking around.

"Up here," I said quietly.

"Darling, what are you doing on the roof?"

I shrugged. "Better view."

She smiled tiredly. "You'd better get to bed, dear."

"I don't think I can sleep," I admitted.

Beckoning for me to come down, she waited until I stood next to her before pulling me into a hug. "Why don't you see if Gregory is still awake?"

I pulled away and stared at her. "You never fail to surprise me."

"I do try my hardest," she said as I slipped past her and into my bedroom. From there, I continued on out the door and across the hall.

I didn't bother knocking and instead opened Gregory's door just a crack, inching my way in to find him dozing on his bed, the lights still on. I smiled to myself as I tiptoed over to climb next to him.

He woke with a start, wildly looking around before finally grinning at me. "An' what're _you _doing here?"

"Shut up and go to sleep," I ordered, snuggling up to him.


	9. Chapter 9

**Guys, I'm not dead! And even better, this story is still alive, too! :D:D I know that it's been FOREVER since I've updated this, but I've honestly just not been writing it lately . I'm always either too busy or just filled with writer's block for this, but I finally managed to scrape this fluffy little chapter together in order to get back on track for the real plot, that, as surprising as it is, is actually going to be kind of cool, I think. So just enjoy this pathetic little collection of words until I can give you a REAL chapter /D**

"And who might you be, adorable nymphet?"

I rolled my eyes as Anna was fawned over by _everyone. _Adorable? Sure she was. But I didn't need to hear it eighty times, especially without an escape route. All I could do was stand there and wish that I had an alcoholic beverage to numb the idiocy of your average rich lady.

But _no, _that would be _unladylike. _

"How's it going?" Dottie asked, popping up at my side.

"I could use a drink."

"Aksel, we've talked about this," she said. "You're going to ruin your liver-"

"Dottie, we've talked about this," I mimicked. "No I'm not. My liver is a lot tougher than yours."

She sighed. "Aksel, I've never even seen you drink any alcohol."

"It isn't exactly a habit of mine."

"I should hope so. Aksel, we need to talk about your loud tendencies."

"Yes, yes." I said. "Of course." I walked over to the railing to look down on the hall below. "But really, what's the point?"

"In teaching you to behave?" she asked, rubbing my shoulder. "I've gotta say, I don't really know. But I _do _know that if you're going to be living with a family as proper as the Sackville-Baggs, you're going to need to be a bit more ladylike. They're aristocrats, after all."

"They haven't known any royalty since Elizabeth I."

"Now come on, we don't know that for sure. They might have been friendly with King George." She took a sip of whatever was in her glass and smiled. "Why don't you go and find something fun to do? I'll keep an eye on Anna."

"Thank you," I said, scanning the lower floor for a familiar face. I finally spotted one and smiled, heading down the stairs with about as much grace and refinery as a pregnant hippo. Dammit. Why did I ever even try?

I passed Tony and Rudolph, both tugging on their very crisp little bow ties to loosen them. The McAshton boys were lingering nearby, urged by their grandfather to befriend the other two in order to make amends for his previous behavior, even if it had been arguably justified at the time. Why he was even here in the first place was still a mystery to me, but I didn't really care, because I was on a mission.

"Hey," I said as I reached my target, linking my arm with his.

His face brightened up. "Where've you been, love?"

"Here and there. Watching Anna, mostly." I sighed dramatically. "You know how it is."

Gregory grinned. "This _is _our house, Aksel. Why don't we just slip away to some hidden room for a few hours?"

I snorted a laugh. "You seem to think very highly of yourself, Greg."

"Why do you say that?"

"You act like I would automatically say yes to that."

"Wouldn't you?"

"Yes, but that's not the point."

"Then why don't we just blow this party, eh?"

I ran a hand along his face and remembered the time, not that long ago, when his skin had been cold, with that purple tint to it, especially around his lips. I missed the old Gregory.

"We're going to be all alone in this house for _weeks _and you want to miss all of the social interaction a party has to offer? You're crazy, Greg."

"Fucking insane."

"Those are hardly words appropriate for high society."

"As if that matters," he said, pulling at his bow tie. "I can't stand these modern clothes."

"_You're _the one that wanted to be human," I chimed.

He glared at me.

"Ah, Master Sackville-Bagg," we turned to see Lord McAshton standing before us. Everyone seemed to have forgiven him for the whole aiding-Rookery-thing, and he was still Bob's boss, so he had been around every now and then.

I still didn't like him. It was difficult for me to really trust anyone in general—especially humans (the kind that had always been human and never anything else)—and this man was no exception. I could tell that he still felt slightly uneasy about finding out that his ancestor actually _was_ a vampire, and he was clearly still a bit traumatized by the fact that they were real. Or, possibly, had been real; regrettably, I had no idea if there were any still left now that the entire Sackville-Bagg clan was transformed.

"Lord McAshton," Gregory said, reluctantly snapping into gentleman-mode. "I trust you're enjoying yourself?"

"Quite heartily," McAshton replied. He looked at me. "And Miss Aksel, I hope you're well."

I just nodded, earning a disapproving look from Dottie across the room. Whatever. She couldn't force me to do any talking, especially to this guy.

He and Gregory struck up a conversation about something boring while I looked on, scrutinizing McAshton's every move. He tried to conceal a hard swallow, but I caught it. I could smell a slight tinge of fear on him as he spoke to Gregory, but because I was such a proper lady, I didn't even comment on it.

Nor did I comment when I saw Tony bossing around the little McAshton boys, even though I was sure his mother would just love to hear about the fact that he forced them to get him seven cups of punch in just two minutes. But hey, I wasn't about to ruin his fun.

Gregory's arm brushed against mine, bringing my attention back to his conversation with Lord McAshton. They were going on about mundane things that I really didn't care about, but there wasn't much else for me to do at the moment, so I listened. They briefly discussed the weather before quickly moving on to the much more exciting topic of golf courses, a subject that I honestly knew nothing of other than the fact that sand traps are fun to play in.

Luckily, Bob came and saved me by engaging McAshton in a business discussion, and I finally had Gregory all to myself again. I tugged him away to a small hallway where I doubted anyone would find us and wrapped my arms around his neck, resting my forehead against his as he smiled.

"What's the matter, Mutt?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Golf is hardly an interesting subject for a time like this," I said with a scowl.

"Although I agree, you didn't have to stick around."

"There's no place else I'd rather be than by your side, Mr. Sackville-Bagg. You know that."

He raised a hand to my face, caressing my cheek with his thumb. "You're such a tease, love." His other hand strayed down to my waist, where it rested briefly before continuing on its journey until he gave my ass a nice pinch.

I slapped him away playfully. "Not _now, _Greg."

He grimaced. "Always _something, _isn't there? Why can't I just have my fun?"

Leaning up to his ear, I whispered "Just wait until they all go on vacation."

As I pulled away, I saw that he was grinning devilishly now. It was pretty damn handsome when he did it. "Can't wait, love."


End file.
